Chief Minister made the remarks during the distribution of appointment letters to selected candidates for various clerical and confidential posts in the state police at an event in Lucknow.
The 912 selected candidates include those recruited for the posts of Police Sub-Inspector (Confidential), Assistant Sub-Inspector (Clerk) and Assistant Sub-Inspector (Accounts).
Addressing the gathering, CM Adityanath said: "When a capable candidate is selected through a transparent recruitment examination, the process becomes a 'symbol of faith' for not only the aspirant's family but also for the public, towards the government and administration."
"Before 2017, we witnessed the despair and hopelessness felt by the youth and believed that change was indeed possible."
"However, the lack of willpower to act, combined with the rampant nepotism that had gripped the entire system, meant that one could not even imagine transparency or integrity. And when the recruitment process itself is riddled with anomalies and discrimination, how can there be any trust?" he asked.
Without taking any name, CM Adityanath claimed that as soon as recruitment advertisement appeared before 2017, "every young person felt that the process could not be completed without political patronage or financial dealings".
"They would feel disheartened, wondering whom to approach or how to secure their selection," he said, adding that questions would arise regarding the integrity of the examination and the selection process, "not to mention the separate issue of paper leaks".
"The UP Police, in particular, had a notorious reputation where one person would take the exam, while someone else would receive the results and the appointment letter," the UP CM alleged.
Further, he said: "So, we thought of strengthening the process to an extent that non-deserving people cannot enter the system. We brought in a law that if someone orchestrates a paper leak in the manner of before the year 2017, then that person shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and their entire property confiscated."
He asserted that transparent recruitment in the Uttar Pradesh Police in the last nine years is an example of change brought into the state.
"The state is the same. It is not as if I brought something in from elsewhere. We haven't changed anything (in terms of the structure). The posts of DGP, Home Secretary, and Chief Secretary remain exactly as they were. All Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries also remain the same...Nor is it the case that I brought in extra officers from Gorakhpur or Delhi to run the state through them. It is the same state, the same workforce."
However, according to CM Adityanath, it is the people's mindset that has undergone a shift.
Recalling an anecdote shared by state Finance Minister Suresh Khanna, the CM said: "During a discussion, a senior military officer told him (Khanna) that earlier people had to hide their identity while going out of Uttar Pradesh."
"This is not just the story of a single army officer. It is the story of every resident of Uttar Pradesh who had to hide their identity. When they went outside UP, they would conceal their identity," he said, claiming that there was lack of employment opportunities in the state before 2017.
"Riots would break out every other day. Curfews would remain in place for months on end. It wasn't limited to just one place—be it Bareilly, Aligarh, or Meerut; in Muzaffarnagar, riots continued unabated for six months. The riots began at Kosi Kalan, and there wasn't a single town, district, or village in the state that remained untouched by it," he alleged.